Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gurinder Chadha
Produced by	Gurinder Chadha Lynda Obst
Screenplay by	Gurinder Chadha Paul Mayeda Berges Will McRobb Chris Viscardi
Based on	Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers by Louise Rennison
Starring	Georgia Groome Alan Davies Karen Taylor Aaron Johnson Eleanor Tomlinson
Music by	Joby Talbot
Cinematography	Richard Pope
Edited by	Justin Krish Martin Walsh
Production company	Nickelodeon Movies
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	25 July 2008 (2008-07-25) (United Kingdom)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Box office	$14.9 million

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British coming of age-comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film's lead is played by Georgia Groome, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Karen Taylor amongst the supporting cast. The story is based on two teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. The narrative follows fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicholson (Groome) as she tries to find a boyfriend while also organising her fifteenth birthday party.

Plot

Georgia Nicholson is a 14 year old girl from Eastbourne who worries about her looks, is embarrassed by her mum Connie, dad Bob, and mad little sister Libby, and fears she will never get a boyfriend. One day, she humiliates herself by going to a cool party in a ridiculously oversized olive costume, causing people to laugh at her, and for her to run home, attracting looks from people.

On the first day of the new school term, Georgia and her friends, Jas, Ellen and Rosie, known as her "Ace Gang", spot two new brothers that have just moved to Eastbourne from London, fraternal twins Robbie and Tom. The girls follow the boys, who are exploring town with their friend Dave "the Laugh".

Georgia then hatches a plan to get close to Robbie. Realizing that Robbie likes cats she pretends her cat, Angus, has gone missing. Jas has Angus on a leash, but he escapes and Tom rescues him. Jas and Tom begin dating while Robbie is dating Georgia's rival - Lindsay.

In the midst of all this, Georgia's father has been offered a job in New Zealand, and he goes to New Zealand to prepare for the family to move out with him. During his absence, Georgia's mum hires a handsome builder called Jem to re-do the living room, and begins to spend increasingly longer periods of time with him, making Georgia worried as to the state of her parents' marriage.

In an attempt to "grow up" for Robbie, Georgia then goes to have "snogging lessons" with Peter Dyer. He becomes infatuated with her and at a party the following night, he tries to kiss her, causing her to fall in to a bush and expose her underwear to Robbie, Lindsay, Jas and Tom, who see her on the ground with Peter. In order to get away from Peter, Georgia tells him that she is a lesbian. Tom invites Jas to go swimming with him and Robbie. Georgia conspires to meet them at the pool and brings her sister along as she is stuck babysitting her. While in the pool Robbie and Georgia kiss. Robbie then leaves, claiming that he has to "sort some things out" but that he will phone Georgia later.

A few weeks later Georgia asks Dave the laugh to a gig for Robbie's band, the Stiff Dylans. After reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus Georgia hatches a plan to make Robbie to realize his feelings for her by going to the gig with Dave the Laugh. Robbie tries to talk to Georgia at the gig, but is stopped by Lindsay.

At school, Dave finds out that Georgia was only using him to make Robbie jealous and so stops talking to her. When Dave tells Robbie that Georgia was only using him, he stops talking to her as well. When she finds out it was Jas that leaked this information, they have an argument, and they vow never to speak to each other again and then Robbie tells her a sad bit of his disappointment in her .

Feeling like there is no point in staying in England, Georgia decides that she would like to move to New Zealand. Before she leaves she goes to the beach for a walk knowing Robbie would be there and apologizes to him. Robbie tells her that he dumped Lindsay and he admits that he still likes her.

In the end Georgia's mother takes her to a club for the first time and it turns out to be a surprise fifteenth birthday party, which Jas had secretly organized with Georgia's mother. It is at a newer club, outnumbering Lindsay's party. She is greeted by all her friends and her family, with Jas and Georgia befriending each other again. As a surprise, Georgia's father returns from New Zealand, deciding to stay in Eastbourne for a better job opportunity. It is also revealed that Jem is gay, and that his boyfriend is the owner of the nightclub. The Stiff Dylans are performing the song "Ultraviolet" which Robbie had written about Georgia, when they are interrupted by Lindsay who had come from her own party (to which no-one had turned up) and tells Robbie that he would either have to take her back or lose her forever. He tells her that Georgia is the one he wants, and he kisses Georgia on-stage. Jas then stuffs her hands into Lindsay's breasts and pulls out her breast pads. She tosses them into the crowd, and furiously, Lindsay storms off the stage.

Cast

• Georgia Groome as Georgia Nicolson: The main character, a 14-year-old girl who falls in love with Robbie and tries to get him to be her boyfriend throughout the film.
• Aaron Johnson as Robbie Jennings: Georgia's love interest, he is in a band called The Stiff Dylans, and is initially Lindsay's boyfriend at the beginning.
• Karen Taylor as Connie Nicolson: Georgia's mum, she is 'old-fashioned', and scares Georgia as it seems she gets very close to Jem, but also attempts to maintains a close relationship with her daughter.
• Alan Davies as Bob Nicolson: Georgia's loving dad, who is a bit 'old-fashioned' too, as he does not want Georgia to have a party in a club for her birthday. He travels to New Zealand for work which upsets Georgia and her family.
• Eleanor Tomlinson as Jas: Georgia's best friend, very girlish in understanding, and wants to get a boyfriend just as much as Georgia does. She worries about her lack of ample cleavage. She starts to date Tom, Robbie's fraternal twin brother.
• Manjeeven Grewal as Ellen: Georgia's friend, in 'The Ace gang' along with Georgia, Jas and Rosie. She is the vulnerable one of the group. In the end, she is introduced properly to Dave by Georgia, and they dance together and kiss.
• Georgia Henshaw as Rosie: Georgia's friend, fourth member of 'The Ace gang’. She is the experienced one of the group because she already has a boyfriend called Sven.
• Kimberley Nixon as Lindsay (Slaggy Lindsay): Georgia's rival, is the main antagonist of the film. She is slim and very good looking but she is a complete bully to Georgia. She is seen as 'the slag of the century'.
• Sean Bourke as Tom Jennings: Robbie's brother, later Jas' boyfriend.
• Tommy Bastow as Dave "The Laugh": Georgia uses Dave to make Robbie jealous, which makes him feel very hurt. Dave is one of Robbie's best friends. He had feelings for Georgia until the party. He then dances with Ellen and they share a kiss.
• Liam Hess as Peter Dyer (Saliva Boy): He likes Georgia a lot, though the feeling is not mutual. He gives girls lessons on how to snog, charging five 'quid' for a session.
• Matt Brinkler as Sven: Rosie's crazy boyfriend, an exchange student from Sweden.
• Eva Drew as Libby Nicolson: Georgia's eccentric 6-year-old sister. Likes to dress up her cat Angus.
• Steve Jones as Jem: He remodels/decorates a room in Georgia's house and Georgia thinks her mother is falling for him.
• Stiff Dylans as themselves (with the extension of Robbie).
• Ray Shirley as Woman with the Poodle
• Benny & Jimmy as Angus: The cat of titular distinction.

Production

Chadha was originally brought into the project as a scriptwriter:^[1]

When the project came to me, the studio, Paramount, had had it for five years and even though they're British books they had these two American guys adapt the book and they couldn't get it to work. I read the script and thought how weird, this is a sort of LA male's version of an English girl's childhood and then I read the books and I thought wow, there is something here that relates to me growing up that I hadn't seen in the script. I thought this could be a British genre film or be like Clueless or Mean Girls in England and I liked the idea of doing a British version of those films. Then it clicked that it should be like Sixteen Candles.

Most of the scenes were filmed on location in Brighton and Eastbourne.^[2] Others, such as the gig scene and some interiors and exteriors for Georgia's house, were filmed in and around Ealing Studios, London. Areas in nearby west London like Bishopshalt school in Hillingdon and the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge were used as well.^[3] Other sites include locations in Teddington and Twickenham. Costumes included green blazers and kilts borrowed from St. Bede's Prep School in Eastbourne, and props included Eastbourne's signature blue bins to add to the effect and continuity when filming in multiple locations.

Release

The film was the first movie produced by Nickelodeon Movies to receive a PG-13 rating.

Reception

The film received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 71% based on reviews from 24 critics. The site's consensus states: "Based on two of British writer Louise Rennison's popular books, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a pleasant and funny tween comedy, comfortable for UK audiences as well as stateside crowds."^[4]

Critics noted the strong central performance of Georgia Groome, who was praised for her "super-engaging"^[5] and "endearingly natural" performance.^[6]

Music

Some songs played in the film were not included on the soundtrack:

1. "Out of Time" - Stiff Dylans
2. "You're the Best Thing" – The Style Council
3. "Agadoo" – Black Lace
4. "True" – Spandau Ballet
5. "I'm Your Man" – Shane Richie
6. "Mr. Loverman" – Shabba Ranks
7. "Dance wiv Me" – Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome
8. "Teenage Kicks" – Nouvelle Vague
9. "Big Fish, Little Fish" – Nik Martin

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging on IMDb
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at AllMovie
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at Rotten Tomatoes
• BBC Slink goes behind the scenes of Angus Thongs... A round of up videos from and about the film